Molding-machine.



E. F. THIBMANN. MOLDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR.7, 1912. l, l 2?, l l 3., Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

- e ,ffl/11111111114 IIII E. F. THIEMANN.

'MOLDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 111111.?, 1912.

Lm'l 1 3., Patented Feb. 2, 1915.

i .Y 3 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

E. F. THIEMANN.

MOLDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.7,'1912.

1,12?,1 13., Patented Feb.2, 1915.

3 SHEBTSSHEET 3.

www @M ERNEST r. THIEMANN, or MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

i HOLDING-MACHINE.

Application tiled March 7, 1912.: Serial No. 682,121.

To all 'whom 'it map cont-ern Be it; known that I, ERNEST F. THIEMANN, a citizen; of the United States, and resident of Milwaukee, in the county ofMilwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Molding-Malchinees, of'which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, Whichare .a partpothis speel- This invention relates to machines for automatically filling ask sections with sand and packing sand around patterns and for supplying flask sections with bottom boards and forturning thev flask sections one upon another ready for pouring the metal therein and for removing' the flasks from the bottom boards after the pouring operation and returning the bottom boards to be refed, thus performing a continuousoperation.

Another object of thisrinvention is to improve upon the Various details of construe-i tion of acontinuously operating molding machine otthis character.A

With the abovel and other objects in view the invention consists in the molding machine as herein claimed and all equivalents. Referring to the accompanying drawings in which like characters of reference indicate the same parts in the different views: Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section of a molding machine constructed in accordance with'this invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view of thesand pressing mechanism; Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view thereof; Fig. l.tis a plan view of the sand scraper and the feed passageway for the bottom boards; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the cope inverting mechanism; Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional 'viewthrough a flask section showing the pattern being stripped therefrom; and Fig. 7 is a plan view of a completed flask on the conveyer conducting them from the machine.

In these drawings 10 is a feed table `with a conveyer belt 11 passing thereover to lbring flask sections 12 and 13 to themechanism for lling them with sand. The sections 12 are the drag sections of the flask and the sections ,13 are the cope sections thereof and they alternatewith each other as fed to thek machine. An inclined table 14 forms an extension of the` table 10 with-out a conveyer belt,the flask sections -beingatorced up its inclined surface by the pressure of those .from behind, anclfoxnthe table .14; as welles Speccation of Letters Patent.

. remates ren. e, rais.

on the 'table 10..the. flasks are guided by side rails 15 to keep them in-their proper course.. The inclined table 14 delivers the flask sections to a rotary pattern Wheel or drum 16 which has on its periphery a number of pattern plates 17to tit the flask sections. The plates 17 are alternately provided with pins and openings to engage the openings and 'pins of the respective flask sections as they come into engagement with the Wheel.

Aty the top 'of the pattern wheel is a sand i hopper-18wl1ich is supplied with sand by a conveyer belt 19 and which` has the flask sections successively fed beneath the lower endthereo to receive the sand therefrom.Y

The'rear wall ofthe hopper-18 is spaced a suflicient distance above the edges of the lask'sections to permit of the flask sections containing a surplus quantity ot` sand, the

sand belng leftv therein for some distance. above the upper edges and being confined.

by stationary side plates 20.

0n leaving the sand hopper the flask sections are subjected to the action 'of a sand pressing mechanism shown in detail in Fig. 2. vThis mechanism preferably consists of a series of ,pressure operated plungers arranged in groupsor banks across the mold sections at regular intervals and arranged to successively operate upon" the sand to force the sand firmly around the pattern. These plungers may beof any desirable construction, but preferably they consist oi" the plunger members 21 mounted on rods 22 which carry pistons 23 at their upper ends.

Workingin cylinders 24 with coil springs 25 surrounding the rods for returning the pl-ungers to their upper positions. cylinder has a-'fpressure supply port 26 through which compressed air or steam may be supplied above the piston and an exhaust port 27 through which it may be discharged, and an oscillating valve member 28 is pivotallyv mounted within the piston and is provided with an opening 29 to register with either the port 26 or the port 27. An arm 30 on the valve member 28 is in position to be engaged by a projection 31 on the piston 23 and is lifted thereby to change the valve from the position in which the cylinder is connected with the exhaust to the position in which lthe cylinder isv connected with the pressure supply portv 26.

, A v yielding diaphragm, or as shown, a

`spring pressed plunger 32 is mounted at the Each'r upper end of the cylinder and has connection with a bell crank hook 33 to engage a corresponding hook 34 on the arm 30 of the valve `member so that when the spring 25 has returned the piston to its upper position and has thereby swung the valve member 28 to its position for opening the pressure supply port 26 said valve member is engaged and held in this position by the engagement of the hook 34 with the hook 33. The inflow of compressed air or steam into the cylinder. causes the piston 23 to move downwardly and press the plunger 21 into the sand. When the piston comes to rest there is a resulting increase in pressure withinthe cylinder and the plunger 32 which has not been affected bv the pressure in the cylinder until this time, because of the degree of spring pressure thereon, now yields and swings the hook 33 out of engagement with the hook 34 and the arm 30 which is weight; ed for the purpose drops to return the valve member 28 to the position in which ity-opens the cylinder to the exhaust port so that the spring 25 becomes effective in returning the piston to its upper position. Thus the valve mechanism for each cylinder is contained therein and is automatic in its operation to produce a reciprocation of the plunger with a length of stroke depending upon the resistance met with in packing the sand around the pattern. It may be desired to prevent the packing of the sand at the edges of the flask sections and with this object in view the cylinders 24 of each bank of cylinders extending across the flask sections are provided with a common supply passageway which is connected by a pipe 35 with apressure Asupply pipe 36, a valve 37 being provided in each of said connections which is normally held open under pressure of a spring 38, but which may be closed by the engagement of pins 39 .on the flask sections with a shoe 40 on the end of the valve stem. As the shoe 40 is held upwardly by its engagement with the pins 39 during the passage of the ends of the flask sections the valve 37 will be held closed and the plungers of the transverse bank of cylinders will remain inactive until the ends of the flask sections have passed.

lVhen the flask sections pass from beneath the sand pressing mechanism they approach a scraper blade 41 which is pvotally mounted and is inclined to bear at its upper edge upon the side edges of the fiask sections and thus scrape the surplus sand from the flask sections, the sand sliding down the inclined of the travel of the flask section with the pattern wheel.

Each bottom board is provided with a projecting spur near its rear end to engage the inner surface of the rear wall of the flask section in order to register therewith.

Duringl the travel of the pattern sections from the scraper blade 41 to the bottom of In order to prevent the flasksectionscfoly lowing the patterns a stripping guide 46 is arranged atv the sides of the' concave guide 45 to engage the pins 39 of the flask sections and draw said flask sections away from the pattern wheel. The flask sections with their sand impressions uppermost pass from the concave guide 45 onto a conveyer table 47 where they are carried along upon a,y conveyer belt 48. The front pin 39 of each cope section is made sufficiently longer than the others to engage with inclined guide rails 49, as shown in Fig. 5, to be lifted thereby as shown in Fig. 1 and bring` socket plates 50 of the cope sections into engagement with projecting pins 51 of the drag sections to form a hinge connection between them upon which the cope sections will be swung to close the flask by the front pins 39 of the cope section coming into engagement with notches 52 of cope inverting wheels 53 which are turned at a relative speed which will effect this purpose. The assembled fiasks may then be poured, preferably while traveling on the table 47 and upon reaching the end of said table they are carried off by `conveyors of any construction while the bottom boards 44 drop into a chute 55 and are carried by a convever .belt 5.6 rearwardly to a conveyor belt 57 by which they are. lifted while in contact with another conveyer belt and carried to the hopper-"like mouth of the feed passageway 43. rPhe conveyer 54, as shown in the drawing, consists of a pair of belts at the sidesof the line of travel of the flasks mounted upon suitably supported pulleys 54 and driven by any desirable means not shown, and .serves to support and convey the flask by having the proj ecting connecting lugs thereof rest upon the traveling belts.

The belt 57 is under the action of a spring tightener 59 to hold it firmly against the bottom `boards with their projecting spurs. By means of these spurs the bottom boards are locked to the fiask sections when applied thereto, the spur bearing into the sand and engaging the end -of the flask section. The

convever belt 58 is reinforced by a series of rollers 60' arranged in arc shaped formation as shown in Fig. I.

From the foregoing it will be understood that the molding machine of this invention serves to place the patterns in the flask sections and fill the flask sections with sand and compress the sand around the patterns and remove the surplus sand and place a bottom plate on each of the flask sections and then strip the 'pattern from the flask sections and turn the cope sections upon the drag sections to complete the flask so that the metal may be poured therein and that all of these operations except the pouring operation are performed automatically in the manner stated in detail incident to the description of the respective parts.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In a molding machine, a sand packer, comprising a pressure cylinder, a piston operating therein, a rod on which the piston is mounted, a spring surrounding therod for moving the piston, a plunger on the rod, the cylinder having an inlet port and an outlet port for pressure fluid, a pivotally mounted valve within the cylinder having an opening to register with either of said ports. an arm on the valve adapted to be engaged by the piston for swinging the valve, a pressure operated plungerl in the piston, a spring bearing thereon, a hook connected with the pressure operated plunger and adapted to engage the valve and hold it in the position in which itis moved by the piston, the increased pressure in the cylinder incident to the end of travel of the piston serving to move the pressure operated plunger against the action of its spring to release the valve and permit it to swing to its other position.

2. A molding machine, comprising a conveyer for flask sections, a series of fluidpressure operated plungers for pressing the sand within the flask sections, said plungers being arranged in banks extending transversely of the path of travel of the flask sections, a valve controlling the supply of pressure fluid to each of the banks of pressure operated plungers, a shoe on the valve, and means on the flask sections for engaging the shoe to close the valve as the ends of the flask sections pass beneath the plungers controlled by the valve.

3. A molding machine, comprising a pattern wheel, flask sections mounted thereon, a sand hopper above the pattern Wheel for delivering sand to the flask sections as they pass therebeneath, pressureoperated independently reciprocating plungers for p acking the sand in the flask sections, an inclined scraper blade riding on the edges of the flask sections to scrape surplus sand therefrom, and a chute leading from the scraper blade to carry the surplus sand away.

4. A molding machine, comprising a pattern wheel, flask sections mounted thereon, a sand hopper supplying sand to the flask sections, pressure operated plungers for packing the sand in the flask sections, a scraper for removing surplus sand from the flask sections, a concave guide concentric with the pattern wheel for holding the flask sections thereon, there being a bottom board passageway through the concave guide, bottom boards fed through said passagewav to the flask sections, and means for separating the flask sections from the pattern Wheel and for supporting them on their bottom boards.

5. A molding machine, comprising a pattern wheel, flask sections attached thereto, means for supplying the flask sections with sand, means for supplying the flask sections with bottom boards, a conveyer receiving the flask sections on the bottom boards from the pattern wheel, pins on the cope sections, inclined rails at the sides of the conveyer to be engaged by said pins for inclining the cope sections, socket plates on the cope sections,

pins on the drag sections engaged by ther socket plates to form a pivotal connection between the cope section and the drag section, and cope inverting wheels at the sides of the conveyer having recesses to engage the pins of the cope sections for turning the cope sections over onto the drag sections.

6. A molding machine, comprising a pattern Wheel, flask sections carried thereby, means for supplying the flask sections with sand, a concave guide engaged by the flask sections for holding them on the pattern wheel, there being a bottom board passageway through the concave guide, bottom boards fed to the flask sections through the passageway, a conveyer receiving the flask sections on their bottom boards from the pattern wheel, means for separating the flask sections from their bottom boards, a return conveyer receiving the bottom b0ards,\wlien separated from the flask sections, an elevating conveyer receiving the bottom boards from the return conveyer, a conveyer belt coperating with the elevating conveyer, and an arc shaped series of rollers against which the last mentioned conveyer b ears for causing the bottom boards to be inverted and fed to the bottom board passageway.

'In testimony whereof, affix my signature, in presence of twoyritnesses.

ERNEST? F. THIEMANN. Witnesses C. H. KEENEY, y CLARA V. MUEHLBACH. 

